


I can’t wait to see you again (it’s only a matter of time)

by Deeambles



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, F/M, M/M, Time Travel, also a lot of seal mumbo jumbo, its really just fluff and an excuse to write baby!sasuke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-16 06:16:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18088997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deeambles/pseuds/Deeambles
Summary: "People assume that Time is a strict progression of cause to effect but actually from a non-linear non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff."alternatively, baby!Sasuke has an adventureTM that gives Mikoto a heart attackTM and Madara spends the story suffering but in loveTM





	I can’t wait to see you again (it’s only a matter of time)

**Author's Note:**

> title from hamilton, summary quote from doctor who

**Founding period, Konoha, sometime around lunch.**

 

Madara is an intelligent man. 

But right now, in this very moment, there is a tiny child, with a disturbing amount of resemblance to Izuna, staring up at him. 

He feels like an idiot. 

Madara knows the children in his clan, okay. He knows, can’t help but know, when Kagami, his kind of surrogate nephew/son/ward/whatever, drags him around the compound to see his friends. 

Izuna, the filthy traitor, is snickering behind him. 

“Soo niisan, since I know I didn’t have a child, want to explain who he is?” 

The kid, clearly an Uchiha, no doubt about that, scrunches his nose as if the mere thought of being related to Madara offends him. 

 _Madara_  is the one offended okay? He’d be great father if he chose to be. 

“I believe, otouto, that the only one of us in heterosexual relationship right now, is you” 

The cease of snickering and Izuna’s paling face is more than worth facing Touka’s raising eyebrow. 

The kid, kami bless him, apparently knows when a tense situation arrives and buts in with-

“I’m Uchiha Sasuke, and none of you are my parents.”

Not that Madara is going to mention this with Touka nearby, but he’d put money down on the kid being in the main family somewhere down the line. He’s got the face, hair, and this uncanny resemblance to Izuna, which Madara is very much  ~~not~~ over. Additionally, the theory is unfortunately plausible since Tobirama, his kami sent horrible boyfriend of his, was the one who walked in with the kid proclaiming—

_“This is your responsibility for the remainder of day while I figure out how he got here from the future.”_

Tobirama then proceeded to walk out without any sort of further explanation. Which of course meant Izuna and Touka walked in not seconds later, because they are as one attracted to trouble. Mito, the sea-witch traitor, ignores his trouble in favor of sipping her tea.

“Tobirama-San said I’m from the future”

Madara just wants to know why Tobirama gets a respectful honorific, while he gets suspicious stares. 

Hashirama may be on to something about his face. 

Not that he’s going to tell him that. He’s got a tiny pouting brat in front of him, a boyfriend claiming time travel, and the villages  ~~peanut gallery~~  head administrators behind him. He’s Not going to waste the time in even thinking Hashirama is right. Nope, not happening. 

And, oops, apparently, he’s been staring to long cause Sasuke’s face is more scrunched and Touka is shoving her toes into his calf where he’s kneeling in front of the kid. 

Honestly where Touka is concerned it’s better to ignore the half demand to explain and let Mito repeat what Tobirama said to the two idiots behind him. 

“Yeah well since I don’t recognize you, you must be.” 

Madara would say he didn’t believe it, but Tobirama has so far invented, cloning, teleporting, reviving the dead, and a large stash of other Justus so what’s a time traveler from the future in the face of that.  

“When do I get to go home?”

The kids tone is still suspicious and Izuna is snickering again, if less as annoying as before. He must still be hung up on the time travel implication. Thankfully Mito cuts in before he can make an appropriately snarky comment back, and dammit Madara, this kid is like 5 max. 

“As soon as Tobirama finds out how you got here, he’ll send you back.” 

Sasuke eyes Mito warily for about two seconds before nodding his head and seeming to be perfectly fine with the petite redhead who Madara knows is the one that should be receiving the incredulous stares if just for her coloring alone. 

After all the Uchiha are known for their homogenous features and again, this kid is like 5, max. Yeah, solid reasoning, go Madara. 

In an effort to reclaim some authority in the room, Madara stands back up and does Not puff up,  ~~Izuna stop grinning dammit.~~

“Alright kid, come on, unless you want watch us do paperwork all day, you can stay in the compound until Tobirama shows up again.”

Sasuke nods and Madara thanks whatever deity is watching that Hashirama hasn’t shown up yet, since Kami knows he’d be all over the kid. After all, If Sasuke really is from the future, it’s proof that Hashirama’s and his dream doesn’t crash down on top of their heads. It’s a little reassuring, not enough, because he could still potentially fuck it up, but a little. 

Madara pulls his shoulders back and continues walking down the street. He’s a step behind Sasuke, as a test in a way, to see if he really knows where he’s going. After all, there’s a part of Madara that’s still a war general, still think it might be a trap. But Sasuke leads on, and just to beat down any suspicion he has, the kid’s face plays a range of emotion. Recognition, looking at the new Akimichi BBQ house, confusion when staring at an empty corner by the still-being-built-academy, and finally relief, when he hits the compound. 

The kid looks back at Madara, and with a little bit of determination, and no reaction on Madara’s part, turns straight toward the direction of the Main Family household, and continues walking.  

If Madara was looking for a confirmation, he supposes that would be it. 

The rest of his family seem to be watching with a mix of amusement and confusion. Tobirama seemed to just appear with the kid and drop him off, so he thinks most of them are trying to recognize Sasuke. Not that they’ll succeed, but that might mean they’ll think he’s an orphan, and really that’s fine by Madara for the moment. 

“The lady with the red buns looks like one of my Moms friends.”

Sasuke must have a thing against inner monologues and awkward situations because that is the second time in 10 minutes he’s but in with a helpful comment. 

“Does she.”

Not a question, but a statement, to see if the kid goes anywhere with it. After all he’s a kid, and not really a mind reader. 

Madara also may be a little relieved to hear an implication that there’s Uzumaki still in the village in the future. 

After all it potentially means Hashirama didn’t stuff is foot down his throat when asking Mito to marry him. For the benefit of the Konoha-Uzushio alliance of course, not because Hashirama and Mito are madly in love or anything. 

The latter just happens to be a bonus. 

“Yeah, she’s got those tags too, but she doesn’t wear them in her hair.”

Sasuke takes pause this time, as if he’s considering if he should add on something, but before Madara can interrupt the unsureness in Sasuke posture he adds 

“But louder, a lot louder. And she says she’ll only wear a kimono if someone buys her one. But I don’t think she’s poor, I think she just doesn’t like being con-stric- ted.” 

He’s cute, Madara thinks, and dammit he’s already getting attached to this child who ~~looks so much like his little brothers~~  just dutifully rehashed a conversation he’s probably heard quite a few times, if his face is anything to go by. Little eye brows drawn slightly together as if he isn’t quite sure what the argument was about. With someone who Madara expects is also an Uzumaki, it’s no wonder a 5-year-old doesn’t exactly get what the fuss about wearing a kimono is about. It’s more of a fire country tradition after all, and Uzushio tends to have a way hotter climate, which isn’t conductive to wearing several layers.

Before Madara can consider if the climate and culture traditions of different countries will be lost on someone who is probably only just at the starting age of the academy that Madara and Tobirama are working on, they arrive in front of Madara’s house. 

Sasuke seems to eye it strangely, not wearily, but as if it was a puzzle with a couple pieces missing. It seems this is where Sasuke loses his previous confidence, glancing back at Madara with unsure eyes. 

“In the future, I live in this house. It looks a little different though.” 

Madara would do anything to crush the unsureness in his little brother’s eyes, and apparently Sasuke is now under that same umbrella of fierce protectiveness. 

“How convenient, I live here now.” Madara draws, gently guiding Sasuke forward again, “although the house is pretty new right now, I suppose you’ll have to tell me what I can add to make it look better.” 

It isn’t surprising to hear the house looks different. Madara isn’t materialistic, and doesn’t have a wife or sister to add pretty decorations to the foyer, although Izuna has given him an ugly little fish statue that sits in the darkest kitchen corner Madara could find. Tobirama, like himself, doesn’t care for such things, and would rather put a scroll or book where someone else would put pretty decor. A couple plants from Hashirama, bookshelves for Tobirama, and a couple of wall hooks for his gunbai, means Madara’s got all he needs. 

Sasuke nods and Madara hopes Tobirama doesn’t mind a slight change in decor, because Madara at this point will do anything Sasuke asks. 

The kids cute, and he’s family no matter what year he was born in. It’s good enough reason. Probably. 

 

As it turns out, the kid, Sasuke, is noticeably observant and downright adorable. 

Mito has been by with Touka already this afternoon to dote, and Madara can tell she wants children even if she hadn’t already mentioned the prospect to him before. Granted, it was in front of Hashirama both times to torment him, but still. 

The second time she arrives however, Tobirama is right on her heels and they are involved in what seems to be a deep discussion, or possibly a debate, on the mechanics of time-space jutsu and theory. 

Madara up until this point has been reorganizing his house at Sasuke’s will and they had taken a break for dinner. Sasuke himself demanded to do a lot of the lifting- a certain determination to prove himself- even if Madara can’t quite put his finger on the reason why at the moment. Then after eating enough food to satisfy a growing shinobi child, fell straight asleep. Mito and Tobirama barley acknowledge them before joining them at the table and portioning our tea for themselves. 

Mentally, Madara makes a slow countdown from five.

5 

“Absolutely not Tobirama. Are you trying to send this kid through an unstable portal? Do you want him lost to the aspects of time with no way back? 

4

“I’m not going to send a 5-year-old through a seal alone Mito. He’s not getting stranded anywhere and the mechanics of the seal are perfectly stable!” 

3 

“Those mechanics are about as stable as your brother’s moods. Just because they might work in sending an inanimate object, does Not automatically give it the same stability to send animate objects!” 

2

Tobirama scoffs, “Stability does not necessarily depend on the livelily hood of the object. If the elemental corners of the seal are stable, then it’s stable, no matter what you send through.” 

1

“Be that as it may, sending an object through time, is not the same as sending an object through space.” Mito counters “time cannot be compressed, or in this case enlarged, the same way you streamline the space around you! In fact— “ 

Mito cuts off with a dramatic sway of her tags and Tobirama’s head soon snaps around to face Madara as well. Madara himself sits and sips his tea and raises his eyebrow to the two shinobi who have now taken notice of the 5-year-old asleep and snuggled into his lap. 

Mito’s expression softens and she lets out a sigh, “My apologies Madara, I hadn’t noticed.”

Tobirama hums an agreement, “Cute” he murmurs, and then turns back to Mito to discuss possible seal modems at an almost whisper. 

Madara rolls his eyes at his boyfriend, truly the master of expressing emotion, and figures it must be high praise to call Sasuke cute. After all, he mostly calls the gaggle of children that follow him ducklings, or when they pester him, brats. 

Madara takes a sip of tea and then realizes he wasn’t calling Sasuke cute, but was calling Madara with a curled-up child in his lap cute. He feels the blush creep up on him, and the increase of body temperature makes Sasuke curl tighter into his stomach. 

Tobirama, of course, chooses this moment to look over and smirks as if he can read the realization right off Madara’s face. 

Mito rolls her eyes, and gathers her notes back up as if she doesn’t also take great enjoyment out of making Hashirama flustered. 

“You will not, Senju Tobirama, try any seals unless I am here. If we are truly lucky, someone from the future will randomly appear to get him and we will not try anything until we are absolutely sure of how to approach this.” Mito demands

“Yes of course Mito, no experimenting with time” Tobirama says, although he doesn’t look like he means it. 

Mito must notice as well because she pauses at Madara’s door with a contemplating look on her face and then deals him a low blow. 

“Good, in that case you will not need your lab, and I plan on spending time with your brother this evening. You should stay here.” she says, and then walks out the door. 

Madara watches Tobirama blink and then his usual straight faced facade turns into a mix between a pout and a scowl. Madara snickers, “she won that one.” 

Tobirama pointedly takes a long sip of his tea before responding, which of course just makes Madara’s grin that much wider. 

“Don’t take her side, she won this battle, but she won’t win the war.” 

“Ah, of course my lover” Madara coons

Watching Tobirama’s face heat up from embarrassment is more than worth the strange feeling Madara feels in his chest every time he gives uses nicknames. 

“Shut up” Tobirama huffs. Madara does, if only because he knows Mito isn’t the only one winning battles and lets his silence be his victory. 

 

**The Yondaime’s period, Konoha, two hours after Sasuke’s disappearance.**

 

“Kushina!” Mikoto barks, slamming into the Namikaze residence. 

Kushina, with a mouth full of noodles, clearly in a homemade ramen eating contest with her son, freezes at the look on Mikoto’s face. 

“Yuussffff?” She attempts, before slurping the rest down.  

Mikoto calms a little at the sight of her best friend. Always grounding even when she doesn’t mean to be, most likely especially when she doesn’t mean to be. 

“Hi auntie Mikoto!” Naruto yells, smile brighter than anything Mikoto’s ever seen.  

She allows a small smile to grace her face but she can tell she can’t keep all the pain out of it by the way Kushina straightens in her seat, face taking on something almost formal, for Konoha’s resident trickster.  

“Hello Naruto, I don’t mean to interrupt, but there is something of an urgent matter that I need to speak about with your mother.”  

Never let it be said that Naruto is an idiot. He’s 5, much like her own son, but he’s the Hokage’s kid, and he knows just what it means when urgent matters come knocking at the door late at night. 

Mikoto has heard him complain about the Anbu before, but Mikoto is Naruto’s Mom’s pretty best friend and she gets 5-star treatment in the form of Naruto very seriously nodding his head and busting his dishes to the kitchen. 

She sits down at the table, and Kushina has her war face on. Steely eyes, determined slant to her mouth, and Mikoto can’t even begin to imagine what she’d do without her.  

“Mikoto” Kushina says softly, “What happened?” 

 Mikoto’s mouth tightens and she fights the way her next words get caught in her throat, “He’s gone Kushina.”  

“Who?”

“My baby, Sasuke, he ran to greet Itachi at the gate. Apparently, they recovered some old Uzushio scrolls on their last mission and when he ran to hug Itachi, he bumped the one carrying it. It opened and swallowed him.” 

Mikoto breathes and tries not let her hands shake, watches Kushina’s face as she processes everything. 

“The squad immediately ran to the Hokage and Jiraiya is there too. They sent me to come get you.” 

Kushina looks up at that. Mikoto knows Kushina is a brilliant seal master in her own right, but prefers to make stuff up and invent then study old seals. However, while Minato and Jiraiya get a lot of credit for being masters, it is Kushina who is called in as the expert if no one else can do it. 

Kushina who is being called in now because Minato and Jiraiya can’t do it. 

Kushina who is Mikoto’s last hope before her son gets lost to some unknown seal. 

Mikoto watches Kushina’s face turn fully determined as she marches to put on her shoes. 

“Naruto!” She yells, “Want to go visit Aunt Tsunade?” 

Naruto comes full speed out of his room cheering. 

Mikoto thinks this is because he likes playing hide n seek in the hospital and Tsunade likes assigning interns to find him. 

She smiles at her best friend wrangling Naruto into a pair of shoes. 

She’ll save him, Mikoto thinks,  _she will._

  

Minato has never seen a seal more beautiful in his entire life. The complexity of it is stunning, the lines are at the hand of a master, the underlying chakra currents and elemental balances are works of pure art. 

He just really wishes it hadn’t went and swallowed the chief of Military police’s, which also happens to be his friend’s, son. Fugaku hasn’t stopped pacing the office since Jiraiya made a comment for Mikoto to go get Kushina. 

Minato at least isn’t alone in admiring the seal. Jiraiya hasn’t taken his eyes off it for more than two seconds, and there’s two more completely innocent seals just waiting to be explored! 

But first, he has a 5-year-old to save, if only the seal would spill its secrets and Sasuke he could examine it for more aesthetic purposes. 

“Minato” Jiraiya’s voice rumbles. 

Minato looks up and meets eyes with his sensei whose eyes are rapidly going back and forth between Minato, and Fugaku who’s pacing behind him. 

Jiraiya inclines his head a little and mouths “damage control” and shakes his head a little more. 

Minato stares, and then looks over his shoulder to look at Fugaku, then stares back at Jiraiya and shakes his head. 

Jiraiya nods, Minato shakes his head. 

Two silent arguments later and Minato’s salvation from facing down an Uchiha who doesn’t want to hear anything besides his son is safe and alive, comes in the form of Kushina and Mikoto jumping through the window. 

“Move over, pretty boy! Heard y’all need some help!” 

Minato may be Hokage and Jiraiya May be a Sannin, but both know when to move, and when an Uzumaki says move, you  _move_. 

Kushina leans over the desk, examining the seal as Mikoto and Fugaku stand and watch behind.

She hums, seemingly lost in thought and murmurs, “This is well done. Really well done. These lines are great.” 

Considering Kushina only has a passing notion for acceptable handwriting, Minato can feel himself start to sweat at her acknowledging another person’s calligraphy. 

“Yes, Kushina, but what does it  _mean_ ” Fugaku strains. It’s a novelty to hear him worried, Minato thinks, the last time he heard that tone was when Minato ended up in the hospital after the chunin exams. Seconds after Minato won, he got gutted like a fish by an assassin from rain country, and when he woke up Fugaku was there berating him for not dodging.  

_“How did you not see the guy with the knife Minato? You took out Mikoto’s brother literally 5 seconds before that? Are you an idiot? You’re lucky your sensei was so fast or you would have been cut and half and not even Senju Tsunade could fix that.”_

“Hello? Earth to pretty boy, are you listening?” Kushina snaps, whacking him in the head with calligraphy brush 

Minato yelps, “Ow! I mean yes! Sorry!” 

Kushina rolls her eyes, “Focus pretty boy and tell me what you think of this” she says snapping her brush down on a particularly shiny part of the complex scroll. 

Minato leans over, eyes as bright as the scroll, and hums. 

“It’s a time matrix. It’s often paired with an elemental nature, like what you see in your fancy exploding tags, you know the ones that have a timer and then blast everything with lightning or another element instead of just blowing up” 

Minato pauses, considering, “it’s way beyond the simplicity of a timed exploding tag though” 

Kushina hums her agreement “Right, pretty boy, but compare it to rest of the seal.” 

Minato frowns, “We’ve been trying Kushina, the entire seal doesn’t make sense.” 

“He’s right, Kushina, there’s part of the seal like that, that seem they would look great someplace else, but together it just looks like some fancy lines someone wanted for aesthetic” Jiraiya grumbles “It’s pretty, but this seal should be fundamentally useless, not sucking up objects, even less children.” 

Kushina snorts, “Don’t be ridiculous, you both are looking at this wrong.” 

Minato and Jiraiya look up at that and Mikoto and Fugaku are looking at Kushina like she grew a halo and white wings. 

“Try looking at just the shiny parts. The black undertones are stabilizers, part of the seals infrastructure, not the seals code or function” Kushina continues “Try just looking at this middle section, look familiar, Minato?” 

Minato stares back down, “It has the base of a time/space seal.” Which Minato realizes is a lot of what he does and looks back up at Kushina for confirmation. “That doesn’t make it necessarily familiar though” 

Kushina stares, “Minato, that’s the basis of Hiraishin.“

Minato blinks, Jiraiya’s eyebrows scrunch together and they both stare daggers at the seal like it’s betrayed them. 

“Kushina, I watched Minato fail and recreate and fail and improve and fail again, the Hiraishin seal. This isn’t the same thing.” Jiraiya stresses. 

Kushina rolls her eyes again, “Of course it isn’t. Minato’s Hiraishin is an improved version of the original. The time/space matrix your staring at is the one Senju Tobirama used.” She says confidently, “The Hiraishin you use Minato is a jutsu built to increase ones speed, which consequently means compressing space. Senju Tobirama built the Jutsu to combat the issue of space and barriers, he just happened to get speed when he used the basic theories of summoning. This seal uses the same matrix as that.” 

Minato stares down again in realization. The basic theories of summoning allow the Hiraishin to increase a person’s speed with the space streamlined from two definite markers. This seal has it, making it one definite marker. The time matrix in the corner is flipped so it’s not compressing time like teleporting does, but is instead elongating it. The characters he thought were originally for elements are just that, but instead of holding previously managed energy they are drawing in energy from the black infrastructure seals behind it. It allows one to completely control how much power gets put into the time matrix. It’s ingenious, except Minato still has  _no idea_  what it does. 

He shares this with the people in the office and watches as Jiraiya’s face flashes through confusion, realization, and something of a mix between horror and wonder. 

“Dear sage above and below” Jiraiya says, looking like a meteor just appeared in the atmosphere, “if this seal is a marker, with no definite second one to end the passage of space, that means time itself is the other marker, and the amount of chakra you stick in the structure determines the length of the matrix. It’s a time-travel seal.” 

Mikoto and Fugaku both inhale at the same time and Minato can’t help but look up at his wife, a grim smile creeping across her face, 

“Bingo.” 

 

**Founding period, Konoha, the day after dinner.**

 

The unfortunate reality of dating Senju Tobirama, is that the man has an older brother, with a sunny personality and an incredible ambition for two things. 

One, an absolute insane drive to see peace to all of fire country at any and all cost, and two, cock blocking Madara and Tobirama. 

So, when Hashirama comes knocking at Madara’s door, the first thing Madara thinks is, “we’re not even fucking right now, it’s midday”, and then he remembers who he’s sitting next to and thinks, “oh shit I forgot to tell him about Sasuke.” 

Before he can get up though, Hashirama let’s himself in, practically teleporting to the table, introducing himself to Sasuke. 

Madara prays to the sage above for patience because Hashirama has half healed bruises on his chest and neck and Madara does not want to answer that kind of question. 

Madara is not a lucky man, Sasuke asks, “Shodaime-sama” 

“Call me Hashirama” 

“Hashirama-sama, what happened to your neck?” 

Hashirama blinks and looks down at his chest and Madara can see his deep tan start to flush as he starts laughing nervously. 

“Don’t worry about it Sasuke, I was sparring with Mito yesterday and she got me a couple times, but look!” He runs a finger of the bruises “they’re all gone now” 

Sasuke looks on has the bruises all but fade in the face of Hashirama’s regeneration ability and nods, “I’m glad you’re okay then” he says seriously. 

Madara gives Hashirama a look to say he’s on  _thin fucking Ice_ , but he can tell Hashirama has fallen captive to the cute and innocent child that is one Uchiha Sasuke.  

The head administrators of Konoha are feared through the elemental nations and yet in the face of a child they are all puddles of goo, Madara laments silently. They are all doomed, once Mito and Hashirama marry and have children. Absolutely doomed. 

 

**The Yondaime’s period, Konoha, the next morning.**

 

“I’m going” Mikoto says firmly. There is no room for argument in her voice, no weak stance in her posture. 

Fugaku stares back just as steely. 

Minato can understand Fugaku’s hesitation. He’s lost his child to a seal, and now his wife is willingly about to active it again and supposedly jump through time and space and theoretically will land somewhere close to their son. 

Kushina is also jumping through time, but if Minato showed doubt in her ability to work a seal, Konoha would be needing a new Hokage. 

Regardless, he understands the hesitation.

Fugaku could order her as head of the Uchiha Clan but if Minato remembers correctly, it was Fugaku’s marriage to Mikoto that made him apart of the main family, and then clan head, not the other way around. Pulling rank is practically pointless, especially since Minato’s silence on the issue is all but permission and he’s the one with the real say. Well, supposedly, anyhow, he can hear his guards making whipping noises in the shadows and thinks maybe not. 

Fugaku lets out a deep breath through his nose and leans his head against Mikoto’s, “Do come back. I’m not dealing with the elders alone.” 

Mikoto smiles, and cups the back of his head, “Of course, Sasuke and I both.” 

The conviction in her voice is enough to make Fugaku look up and nod, not at all happy, but he believes it for whatever it’s worth. 

Kushina assure everyone in the room that with the nature of time-space seals they should be back within the hour if she aims right, and that they might not be sure where in time Sasuke landed, but the seal is set to absorb only so much chakra from the caster before taking chakra from its own reserves, so applying the same amount that it could take from a 5-year-old is a piece of cake. 

Then she grabs Mikoto’s arm and slams a hand down to the seal, sending them off in a bright flash of light. 

The room is silent and Fugaku, Minato, and Jiraiya sit back and wait, with only the clock ticking on the wall to break the silence. 

 

 **Founding period, Konoha, seconds later.**  

 

“Holy shit it worked dattebayo.”  

The wonder in her voice makes Mikoto look up and stare at the back of the Hokage tower. She turns around and looks up at the mountain where one face is in the process of being carved, but even now is completely recognizable as the face of the first Hokage, Senju Hashirama. 

“Alright, dattebayo, let’s go!” Kushina whoops, grabbing Mikoto’s hand and bolting off into the brushes. 

Mikoto has no idea how she knows where to go. She’s still stuck on _it worked_ and they are in the past her son is probably, hopefully, here. 

Then something dawns on her. She pulls Kushina to a stop, “Wait, if we set off that seal in the Hokage office, why did we end up behind it?” 

Kushina blinks, “Oh that’s cause space seals are pretty finicky and are rarely exactly accurate unless you got two markers to make it so. Sense there was only one marker, the seal, it’s not exact, but pretty close.”

“Works for us anyhow, don’t want to end up with a knife in the throat for randomly appearing into the Shodaimes office, ya know!”

“Anyhow, he’s this way, let’s go!” Kushina repeats, yanking Mikoto back into a run along the trees. 

Mikoto can feel her heart racing, her friend’s sensor abilities never fail to come in handy, and she almost has her son back. All they have to do is get to him. 

Then they can go home, this is it. 

 

Madara really wishes he was anywhere but home right now. He helped Sasuke through some basic breathing exercises, then watched him and Kagami run around the compound like a pair of children hiked up on sugar (thanks Hashirama) and now he’s got a 5-year-old and 7-year-old respectively draped across him. 

That isn’t the bad part, oh no, the bad part is Mito’s incessant snickering and use of a merchant’s invention called a camera, and his inability to move and crush the stupid thing. 

He has no idea why he puts up with Hashirama’s girlfriend, or even why they remotely get along. Izuna, the traitor, just laughed at him when he asked before walking out the door to go get smoothies or some other cute shit with Touka. Disgusting. 

His horrible boyfriend just continues putting away the dishes they used for lunch and completely ignores Madara plight. He’s probably in on it, Madara think sourly, Mito’s probably going to give him copies.  

Madara’s contemplating his escape with two sleeping children when someone starts banging on his door. Enough force to almost knock the thing off the hinges, and his first thought is Hashirama, but the man is in his office and even he just lets himself in. 

Mito and Tobirama both have their eyes narrowed, as if trying and failing to recognize the chakra signatures. 

It’s only when he hears the yelling that he remotely realizes what’s happening. 

 

“Open up dattebayo!! I can feel little Sasuke’s chakra ya know!!” Kushina bellows from the outside. Her and Mikoto are in the middle of an infant Uchiha District and surprisingly it’s Mikoto’s future house she’s knocking on. 

“Kushina! You can’t just bang on his door like that!” Mikoto whispers fiercely. 

“Not now Mikoto, we got to rescue your son” Kushina responds, she doesn’t have time for Mikoto’s horribly timed _Uchiha Manners_ kicking in. This might be the main house, and it might currently belong to one Uchiha Madara, but it’s not the only signature in there so she’s not worried. She’s made her decision

“I’m coming in ya know!” Kushina yells. Not even Mikoto’s firm whispers on  _proper behavior_ and  _people are watching_  and  _holy shit Kushina you are going to break the door!_  will stop her. 

She slams open the door, shoving her chakra back into the wards to tell them to fuck right off, and moves around the corner and dodges a water bullet right to her face. 

“Woah! Watch it dattebayo!” She yells. 

The commotion meanwhile has woken both Kagami and Sasuke, in which the latter immediately recognizes Kushina and upon seeing her and his mother behind, immediately is awake and running into Mikoto’s arms, crying into her flak jacket. 

There’s tears (from Sasuke and Mikoto), cursing (from Madara and consequently his wards), exasperation (Kushina and Mito), and interest (Tobirama and Kagami). 

Somehow it ends up alright though. There’s apologies and thank you’s and a little hero worship and finally when Kushina, Mikoto and little Sasuke leave, Madara and his company are standing in a now quiet room with little other than wonder and shock on their faces.  

They just witnessed undeniable proof that somehow, they get from this seedling village to where ever their resident time travelers came from. It leaves them in a surprisingly good mood where they quietly sit back down and enjoy the company of each other.  

 

Meanwhile, at the back of the Hokage tower, Senju Hashirama momentarily loses his mind, when a black shaped blob, known in a different timeline by Zetsu, attracted to the powers that brought Uzumaki Kushina and Uchiha Mikoto through time arises from the ground. He immediately traps the thing with his Mokuton and Uchiha Hikaku who happened to be trying to find the wayward Hokage freaks out and flames the creature with Amaterasu. The black flames devour all and not even a will given form can escape as it screams until it becomes nothing once more. 

In his distress, Hashirama takes an early day where he finds most of his loved ones in Madara’s house. It’s bewildering that they all agree to eat dinner out at his suggestion with barely a protest, but Hashirama takes it as good fortune and determinedly puts the black mush out of his mind. 

 

Back in the future, the Namikaze residence joins the Uchiha’s Main family at the Akimichi restaurant for a much-needed family reunion, where Sasuke tells them all about his time in the past. 

Uchiha Fugaku, for the first time in years, prays at the Naka Shrine where Uchiha Madara was buried, one of the few Uchiha who are, and leaves flowers and a small offering of thanks. Fugaku stares up at the small photograph that sits on the shrine. The one of few select photographs that Uchiha Madara allowed himself to be in. In this photo, he holds two small children. One that is known to be Uchiha Kagami, and the other, who up until this moment, was unidentifiable. He lets a small smile grace his face and gets up to go back home. The elders consequently are nowhere to be found, and Fugaku returns to his family and spends an evening around his dinner table instead of his desk.

 

The night after Hashirama’s dinner outing suggestion, Tobirama and Mito sit around in his lab and create a devastatingly beautiful seal with the premise of time travel. They agree never to implement it themselves but if any time traveler shows up again, at least this time Madara’s door should stay intact. 

Years later, after Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama fall in the first Shinobi war, Senju Tobirama, makes a sacrifice for his  ~~ducklings~~  students in an event that kicks off the second shinobi war. Mito and Touka quietly go through his lab sealing the most dangerous of jutsus away, while carefully organizing the others to be used in village or set on permanent hiatus. Uchiha Izuna becomes the intern Hokage, but refuses the position leaving, it to a village vote that will take place in a week. 

Mito however will make a trip to Uzushio with boxes full of scrolls that make up some if not all of Senju Tobirama’s legacy that will be locked into Uzushio’s vault, in hopes that they will never fall into the wrong hands. 

 A few years before the official start of the third Shinobi war, kicked off by the almost murder of the young, prestigious Namikaze Minato, Uzushio is laid to rest by the combined force of Kiri and Kumo who took advantage of the nation’s recent unrest and refusal to provide any seals about sealing manifestations of chakra into oneself.  

The island is destroyed but a young boy who lives on the coast of fire country finds three scrolls washed up on shore. He recognizes the seal the scrolls are inked with and sells them for coin at the market none the wiser. 

Years later, Uchiha Itachi is on a mission to take back stolen artifacts from an aspiring merchant that were stolen supposedly from the Daimyo. He finds them but him and his team also find three particularly old looking scrolls with shiny seals he recognizes as Uzushio’s due to his mother’s relationship with Konoha’s resident Uzumaki. 

After permission from his captain, one Hatake Kakashi, he takes those too in excitement to show Kushina what him and his team recovered. 

They return to Konoha and Itachi steps through the gates to the sight of his little brother Sasuke, barreling toward him. 

He smiles, his little brother is quite cute, but he can’t help but feel a little off. 

It takes him almost up to the second Sasuke knocks into one of his team mates by accident, that the feeling Itachi is experiencing is Deja Vu.

**Author's Note:**

> a couple things to consider/mention
> 
> * another quote that I feel like fits the story, is by Bill Nye, "When we see the shadow of our images, are we seeing the time 11 minutes ago on Mars? or are we seeing the time on Mars as observed from earth now? It's like time travel problems in science fiction. When is now, when was then?"
> 
> *the mentions of Minato being shanked at the chunin exams actually comes from a story on ffnet called "the girl from whirlpool" by Silver Shine and it remains to this day one of my favorite naruto fics but also one of favorite minakushi stories, so please read it if you haven't. 
> 
> * the seal mumbo jumbo i believe was the section i wrote at 2am so apologies if it doesn't make any sense but i imagine seals are just as contrary as the english language. 
> 
> *Madara, the strange feeling in your chest is love, you dumbass. 
> 
> * also me??? posting more than once a month??? but also twice in one day???? unheard of. never gonna happen again. 
> 
>  
> 
> but really I have an essay due in less than a week and instead i wrote 6k of naruto fan fiction plus another 2k for that other story asdffgh why


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